The Death of Carry

The following is an account of the death of my not-so-loved 2000 Saturn L-Series 2, named "Carry" (pronounced kar-E').

On Tuesday, Andrea was driving to work at the church, but never quite made it there.  Instead, she experienced her first accident.  If the picture doesn't make it obvious, she was hit from behind.  But unlike most rear-end accidents, she was actually hit after she started moving forward by woman who wasn't paying attention to the road in front of her (obviously).  Andrea wasn't injured or hurt, praise God, but is still recovering a little whiplash she received.  Thankfully, Andrea will fully heal, but unfortunately the car isn't blessed with her inter-cellular structure that repairs itself over time.  The rest of this story highlights the slow and agonizing death of a car that was never really reliable or worthy the high-praise comments of my first car (The Reverse Twinkie).

From the very first time I drove Carry during the Spring of 2007, I knew it was going to be trouble.  When I drove it around Vestal it was fine, but once you hit 55 mph on the highway, the car would start shaking and vibrating in ways that seem like the car was pulling itself apart.  I immediately brought it back to the dealership to have it fixed and they claimed to have fixed it.  When driving the car back to Alfred, I realized that when I drove past 65 mph the same vibrations occurred.  Not having the time or patience to it fixed, I decided to make a commitment to never drive over 65 mph ever again - something I should have been doing anyways.  This brief glance snapshot into Carry's past would set the tone for the many problems it would have during its lifetime in my sometimes less than adequate care.

When Carry was hit last Tuesday, I didn't think it would be the end of its service.  However, when Andrea and I went to get the car estimated on Wednesday, the person appraising the car wasn't giving us any confirmations or comfort that Carry would be smelling the sweet air of open road.  Keep in mind that if a car is damaged more than 75% of its value, then the insurance won't fix it for you.  Instead, they cut you a check for the car value and take the car from you.  By the end of the morning, we informed that the way the car was damage is unique in that it damaged five different panels of Carry's exterior.  (If we were hit directly from behind, only the bumper and trunk would have to be replaced.)  The cost of repairing the car determined to be 90% of the car value.  Carry was totaled; funeral arrangements were arranged.

Expecting the worse on the actual value on the car, I began researching on a few different pricing websites to get an idea of how much condolence money we would receive from our insurance company - Liberty Mutual if you're interested.  Having the Internet made the process relatively easy, so I just prepared for the worse and hoped for the best.

To my surprise, I got the call in two days telling me that I would be paid the higher end of what I guessed.  After hearing some horror stories on the Internet, I was happy not having to argue or negotiate the fairness of their price.  Since it was late Friday, I was told to remove my plates and belongings and that a tow truck will arrive on Monday to take Carry to its final destination: the crappy car graveyard in the sky.  Peace out.